Refusing to lie down: South Africa stonewall their way through day four

Hosts make 72 runs in 72 overs as they try to prevent India from winning series 3-0

NEW DELHI:

South Africa fought valiantly on Sunday to try and save the fourth and final Test after Ajinkya Rahane scored his second century of the match to give India control on the second-last day.

Chasing a highly improbable target of 481, South Africa stonewalled the opposition with some defensive batting, scoring at just a run an over on a slow strip at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi.

At stumps on the fourth day, the Proteas were 72-2 from 72 overs with skipper Hashim Amla on 23 off 207 balls and AB de Villiers unbeaten on a 91-ball 11.

The top-ranked tourists, who have already lost the series 2-0, will need to bat out three full sessions on Monday to snatch a draw and salvage some pride.

A 300-plus target has been chased successfully just once in a Test match on Indian soil — by the hosts themselves when they made 387-4 to defeat England in Chennai in 2008.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, the highest wicket-taker in the series with 28 scalps so far, took 2-29.

Amla, who has had a miserable tour, resorted to dead-batting for most of his innings, scoring his first run after facing 46 balls.

The usually flamboyant de Villiers, who has the distinction of scoring the fastest ODI century, also curbed his natural attacking instincts.

In a low-scoring series where no batsman had previously managed to score a hundred, Rahane earlier hit his second ton of the match.

He smashed three sixes and eight fours in his unbeaten 100-run knock and also shared a 154-run partnership with captain Virat Kohli (88), the highest of the series.

The diminutive right-hander lofted Morne Morkel (3-51) for a six over third man before handing out similar punishment to spinners Imran Tahir and Elgar to race into the 90s.

Rahane reached the three-figure mark with a single off Tahir, becoming only the fifth Indian player to score a century in each innings of a Test after Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (thrice), Rahul Dravid (twice) and Kohli.

India, who bowled out the Proteas for 121 in their first innings after making 334, have already bagged the series with wins in the first and third Tests. The second Test in Bangalore was washed out after the first day’s play.

India tasted early success during South Africa’s second innings when Ashwin had opener Dean Elgar caught at slip for four, with just five runs on the board.

Opener Temba Bavuma made 34 before losing his off-stump to Ashwin. However, there were to be no more successes for the Indians as de Villiers and Amla made 23 off 176 balls — the least number of runs made by any pair after facing 175 balls in recorded Test history. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th,  2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.